Serial dresser Patil at Saturday night blasts

NEW DELHI: Even as television channels aired bone-chilling frames of the mayhem caused by Saturday���s blasts, Union home minister Shivraj V Patil may have been busy raiding his wardrobe for clothes ���suited��� for the occasion. After all, it is not everyday that he gets an opportunity to showcase his painstakingly-tailored suits, mostly matched with same-colour shoes.

So, as the terrorists mocked at the law enforcement and intelligence agencies by triggering serial blasts, Mr Patil took a cue and turned a serial dresser to keep pace. On a day when you thought that the home minister of the country would be too busy with phones ringing around him, Mr Patil changed into at least three different suits in as many hours. Sporting a white suit at the CWC meeting at 6.30 pm, he seemed to have made a dash to his home soon after hearing of the blasts ��� to change into a dark-coloured suit, possibly for the benefit of the cameras waiting outside for his usual ���run of the mill��� byte. By 10.30 pm, when he arrived at the blast site for a customary inspection, he had found the time to change into a white suit yet again ��� no, not the one he wore at the CWC ��� to project a more solemn look. Of course, each look was completed with his perfectly coiffured and gelled hair.

And if wearing his incompetence on his full sleeves was not enough, the minister came up with an empty declarations to ���punish the guilty��� (What about the Samjhauta blasts, Mr Minister, where the trail remains completely dry even after six months?) and a rehearsed appeal to maintain calm and harmony. When 21 blasts hit Ahmedabad, killing 55 and injuring 100 barely two months ago, Mr Patil had accompanied UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to the blast sites and made a ���never again��� declaration. Deja vu, since the same byte was vented after all the earlier blasts ��� at Hyderabad (Mecca Masjid, Gokul Chaat Bhandar), Malegaon, Mumbai (local train blasts), Jaipur, Samjhauta, UP courts and Bangalore.

This is not all. While Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta has been advertising his cluelessness by saying that his ministry takes a lesson from each blast, minister of state for home Sriprakash Jaiswal on Saturday went a step further to shrug off responsibility. ���India is a billion-plus country, we cannot have police at all the places,��� he told reporters on Saturday night. He may have been right, but isn���t this the reason why the intelligence agencies are there. But, as experts say, the over-dependence of technical intelligence while ignoring the more effective human intelligence has seriously marred the agencies��� functioning.

The day after, the MHA brass and NSA held a security review in the wake of the blasts. A list of ���dos and don���ts��� for the states was thrashed out to help them prevent terror attacks. Mr Gupta also spoke of time-bound steps to secure Delhi and other cities. Well-sounding promises, but the fact that Mr Gupta describes each terror strike a lesson indicates that he is okay with a few more lessons before he gets his act right.

As for Mr Patil, he is going to have a tough time explaining the functioning of his ministry after the Delhi blasts. Ahmedabad investigations had thrown up clear leads about a plot to target the Capital. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had shared the information with the prime minister, the home minister, and the national security adviser, warning them that the plot to target Delhi could be in its final stages. Obviously, the warning failed to prompt the Centre to sit up and take note. Delhi Police commissioner admitted as much after the blasts, saying that the terrorists seemed to have taken advantage of the current ���lean period��� in security arrangements ��� between the Independence Day celebrations and the festive season around Diwali, the two occasions when the police bandobast is possibly the tightest ��� to retain the surprise element in their attack.

Mr Patil, in any case, never had any answer in the fight against terror. He is opposed to most of the tools that agencies must have to effectively tackle terror ��� he is against tough interrogation techniques, he is against smart laws, and even the use of harsh language against the evil-doers. And his breathtaking reckleness has left gigantic bull���s eyes on the backs of innocent citizens.

The home minister is not the only one obstructing the fight against terrorism. The country was witness to the maddening and outrageous spectacle of Congress and SP leaders travelling to the Azamgarh home of Ahmedabad blasts��� mastermind Abu Bashir to express solidarity with the family.